Back to the topic at hand. You can buy a car without a driver's license. I did anyway. The insuance and mokia were provided by the car dealership as a part of my package. Suprisingly they didn't ask for my license. Go figure. I went and got my license a few weeks after. I had my U.S. license, but had changed fom a Florida license to a North Carolina license about nine months before I left. Even after I provided a DMV printout from Florida and had both attested by the U.S. embassy, the ROP still were contending that I hadn't had the license for a year. I did driving classes for about ten times and then went twice for the road test, got it the second time.

A word of caution to drivers, the ROP is pretty tough on expats, maybe because they think we believe that we should be exempted from their laws, and it seems that some people here think we are, or we should be. They wil fine you for sure and your insurance is useless if you don't have a permit. Think about it, when foreigners come to the U.S. they can drive on their license for six months and then that's it. Why should we expect any different rules when we are in their country. Fine, it might be less than six months, but we have resident cards that allow us to have licenses before. Save yourself any hassle and just do it.

Thank you newbienicki. I was going through the trouble of finding some kind of document so they would allow me to get my license. Sounds like it will not work. Anybody else find a way to get a round this rule, or do I have to wait 6 months until I have had my current license for a year?

Oman can be a stickler for rules. Rather than take the driving lessons and exam... which seems more of a money maker rather than teaching/testing system and may take you the 6 months anyway... I think I would just wait out the 6 months. Getting around will be a hassle or you could take the risk of driving illegally during that time.

I wouldn't recommend the risk, but as you probably noticed, there are those who think it isn't important to bother to get a local license at all. I'm too much of a coward to do that. As I recall, you can lease with an International License. That might be an option for at least part of the time.

Stanggg, I think you should give it a try Get the documents that will confirm you have had the license for more than a year and go to the ROP. I believe I was really unlucky to have met an officer in Sohar who was dead set on me not getting the license. The first time I went, I was told I just had to get the documents attested, but then I met this very difficult officer who seemed to want to make it his duty to foil me in an attempt at transferring the license. With that said,try, you may have better luck than I did. If that fails, just wait it out as V.S. suggested. Let us know what happens and good luck.